This Is Hardcore + Like a Friend

Pulp | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 31, 1998)
• Original Release Date: March 31, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B000006DI9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,812 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feeling Older, November 7, 2002

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is Hardcore + Like a Friend (Audio CD)

Pulp's This Is Hardcore is a hard album, but not in musical sounds. The band's front man, Jarvis Cocker, gets at his hardcore inner feelings. The album has a dark and somber tone with most of the songs dealing with his getting older and the carefree days of his youth slowly slipping away. Songs like "The Fear", "Help The Aged", "A Little Soul" and "I'm A Man" all deal with aging while songs like "Glory Days', "The Day After The Revolution", "Party Hard" and "Like A Friend" longingly look back at fond memories. The album has a subtle power and the band employs a lot a synth and strings that cast a dark shadow over the songs. This Is Hardcore is an album that challenges you, makes you think and makes you feel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Irony is over", May 24, 2003

By 

Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Is Hardcore + Like a Friend (Audio CD)

It's a pity that Pulp's lead singer is mostly known in the US as the guy who knocked over Michael Jackson and then waved his backside during an awards ceremony in the mid-90s. Jarvis Cocker manages to write bizarrely appealing lyrics, and fronts a band that really deserves to have more Stateside exposure.

THIS IS HARDCORE is, despite its name, a fairly mellow album in places, with many of the songs having a wistful, nostalgic feel to them. The band has moved on (again) from their previous sound, but all the tracks still retain that essential quality that makes them recognizably Pulp. The music somehow manages to sound cheap and throwaway, while able to retain a tough core.

The omnipresent keyboards and synthesizers of previous Pulp albums are back again, though I think they are somewhat more restrained than usual. There's a section in the middle of the CD of mostly guitar-based and straight piano music that seemed much more mainstream, although there are still some eerie sounding effects running through the tracks. "TV Movie" is a sad comparison of a broken relationship to a badly produced made-for-TV film. (It sounds sillier than it is. Cocker's lyrics alternate between hilarity and sentimentality masterfully.) "A Little Soul" is a frankly bizarre song where Jarvis sings to his fictional son about how he really wasn't a terribly good father and makes a brief, frightening mention of what things he used to practice every night with the kid's mother. I can't think of too many people who could get away with this, but Cocker does it with a wink and a smirk.

Pulp prove that they still know how to make some fast danceable music when they want to. "Party Hard" has a strong rhythm, while "The Fear" and "This Is Hardcore" feature some great bass guitar work. The music is fairly catchy overall; there are many tracks that I hum to myself for days after listening.

The US version of THIS IS HARDCORE features a bonus track not included on the UK release: "Like a Friend". This interrupts the fine conclusion that was brought by "The Day After The Revolution". But it is a fun song, so its inclusion is welcome. The album as a whole will probably appeal to those people out there who like quirky, offbeat music. It's not different enough from the mainstream to freak out anyone weaned on US radio, but it is just that little bit off to be quite appealing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reality Bites Back!, April 10, 2000

By 

orac_uk (bracknell, berkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Is Hardcore + Like a Friend (Audio CD)

How do you follow the multi-platinum selling, perfect pop of Different Class? Well, you can wave bye bye to that gold disc and release your darkest collection of songs to date. That's exactly what Pulp did with This is Hardcore. It may have been considered a commercial "flop" by some insiders, but their loss was very much our gain. This is Hardcore is undoubtedly Pulp's finest collection of songs. It's depressing, funny, sad, despondent and uncomfortable to listen to if you are approaching that difficult age of 33. This is a moody, almost sleazy album in places and it's all the better for it. Different Class had an instant appeal to it, but I quickly lost interest.Two years on, Hardcore is still essential listening. That's the biggest compliment you can give to any album, if you still play and treasure it months after the hype has faded. It took a few listens for me to fully appreciate this album, but it soons hit you. Practically every listener will identify with the opening track The Fear. A tale of missed opportunities and panic attacks when everything goes horribly wrong. It all rings so true, and Jarvis knows it. Helped of course by the fine melody, the album touches on many fears but you sort of laff because Jarvis delivers his lyrics like some stand-up comedian. Other highlights include Helped The Aged and the title track which is aided along the way by strings Diva Anne Dudley. Hypnotic and seductive and quite simply brilliant. The track Dishes will make you chuckle whilst TV Movie and A Little Soul will scare you slightly. I never thought that Pulp would release a finer album than His N Hers, but Hardcore is in a class of it's own.